Neurons communicate by passing electrical messages, known as action potentials, between each other. Each neuron has a highly specialized structural region, the axon initial segment (AIS), whose primary role is in the generation and sending of these messages. The AIS can undergo changes in size and location in response to alterations of a neuron's ongoing electrical activity. However, until now, all such 'AIS plasticity' has been exceptionally slow, occurring over a timescale of days.
Brain
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Even as larvae, honey bees are tuned in to the social culture of the hive, becoming more or less aggressive depending on who raises them, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports.
A research study at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science has debunked the widely-held belief that the hippocampus, a crucial part of the brain that consolidates new memories and helps connect emotions to the senses, is larger in females than in males.
LA JOLLA--An insect lands on your arm, moving the tiny hairs on your skin just enough to make you want to scratch. Salk Institute researchers have uncovered evidence of a dedicated neural pathway that transmits the itchy feeling triggered by such a light touch.
Surprisingly, the spinal neurons involved in the tingling sensation caused by a light touch are different from those transmitting pain or a 'chemical' itch, the latter elicited by a mosquito bite or a skin wound that is healing.
A study of the brains of mice shows that structural deterioration associated with old age can be prevented by long-term aerobic exercise starting in mid-life, according to the authors of a research article publishing in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on October 29th.
It is currently believed that great apes, including humans, diverged from small-bodied apes roughly 17 million years ago, but analysis of a younger fossil that has features of both groups may reshape our understanding of this evolutionary path. Catarrhines are the group of primates that lived before Old World monkeys and apes diverged from each other, a split followed by further divergence among the Old World apes into small-bodied and greater apes. Some researchers believe that small-bodied apes are a dwarfed version of great apes, since this group lacks features found in catarrhines.
By combining data from a variety of non-traditional sources, a research team led by computational epidemiologists at Boston Children's Hospital has developed predictive models of flu-like activity that provide robust real-time estimates (aka "now-casts") of flu activity and accurate forecasts of flu-like illness levels up to three weeks into the future.
By combining data from a variety of non-traditional sources, a research team led by computational epidemiologists at Boston Children's Hospital has developed predictive models of flu-like activity that provide robust real-time estimates (aka "now-casts") of flu activity and accurate forecasts of flu-like illness levels up to three weeks into the future.
Tempe, Ariz., (October 29, 2015) - Mothers play the essential role in bringing newborns into the world and then spend years supporting and rearing their children. Tending to their children's needs is a tireless task that knows no schedules or time limits, but mothers dutifully do it for their family and society.
Putnam Valley, NY. (Oct. 29, 2015) - Alzheimer's disease (AD), affecting millions worldwide, is the leading cause of dementia The prevalence of AD is rapidly increasing, and will possibly affect over 100 million people by 2050, yet there are no effective therapies for the disease.
Putnam Valley, NY. (Oct. 29, 2015) - Treating traumatic brain injury (TBI) using stem cell therapy is an important area of current research. However, injecting stem cells into the central nervous system has serious drawbacks, including intracranial hemorrhage and cells failing to reach TBI-affected areas of the brain.
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have found new evidence suggesting some human induced pluripotent stem cells are the 'functional equivalent' of human embryonic stem cells, a finding that may begin to settle a long running argument.
The findings were published this week in Nature Biotechnology.
Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2015 - Early life stress is a major risk factor for later episodes of depression. In fact, adults who are abused or neglected as children are almost twice as likely to experience depression.
Previously, giant sharks had only been recovered from rock dating back 130 million years, during the age of the dinosaurs. The largest shark that ever lived, commonly called "Megalodon", is much younger, with an oldest occurrence at about 15 million years ago. This means the new fossils from Texas indicate giant sharks go much further back into the fossil record.
ANN ARBOR--As they age, men often get concerned about their testosterone levels dropping. And rightfully so--it affects their sex drive and other health factors.
But the hormone decline can also provide a window into men's parenting.
A new University of Michigan study found that when men saw their infants in distress, it lowered their testosterone. That factor, as well as being empathetic and having a loving relationship with the infant's mother, predicted whether they were nurturing fathers.